Overheated rhetoric
Monday, Apr 11, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Illinois Municipal League has geared all the way up to stop lawmakers from cutting local revenue sharing. I’ve seen several media reports documenting the push, including this one…
Northlake Mayor Jeff Sherwin gets hot under the collar at the idea of the state retaining money that’s traditionally gone to local governments.
“They can’t discipline themselves, so let’s just take it from (local governments),” Sherwin said. “If we have to cancel senior grass cutting and cut police, (state office holders) will face the price at election time.”
That’s quite the range of essential service cuts. Senior grass cutting and coppers.
* Here’s why the locals are so upset. The IML recently published a briefing paper entitled “The End of State-Collected Local Government Revenue?“…
The state budget crisis has reached such an unprecedented level that there is a very real danger that state-collected local government revenues could be reduced or even lost altogether.
I know of no credible person who is talking about eliminating revenue sharing altogether. Nobody. The Senate Republicans have called for a $300 million reduction, but that’s hardly an elimination. Notice that I wrote “credible.” I don’t consider the Illinois Policy Institute to be a credible organization since it can’t seem to get even basic facts straight and won’t correct the record when challenged, but instead lashes out at its critics and accuses them of grand conspiracies, myself included.
But that’s how you fire up your troops. Go for the extremes and point to the most extreme player and make it look like that player is more important than it really is. Sure enough, the IPI’s report was trumped up in the Municipal League’s white paper as if it had tons of Statehouse allies. The IPI has proposed alternative budgets for the last two years running and nobody has sponsored them in the General Assembly. That’s not what you would call a great track record.
The Municipal League’s lobby day is Wednesday. Expect a big turnout.
* Speaking of the locals, some are still angry that Illinois passed a law to stop them from regulating political speech…
Thanks to a state law that took effect Jan. 1, local governments no longer can require residents to remove signs within a specific time frame on residential properties.
The measure, signed into law last summer by Gov. Pat Quinn, prohibits any ordinances that establish a time limit and essentially allows residents to keep signs up year-round.
State officials have said the issue is one of free speech. But some local officials complain the state has overreached.
“It’s kind of disconcerting that the legislature stuck its nose into a local issue,” Wheaton City Manager Don Rose said. “Taking down campaign signs seven days after an election certainly seems to be a reasonable regulation that gets rid of all of the clutter around town.”
While unfortunate that candidates haven’t all picked up their signs, the real problem was that the locals had incredibly onerous ordinances about when and where signs could be placed. I always thought that was weird because how could you legally restrict 1st Amendment rights like that?
* Meanwhile, we have this bit of inflammatory rhetoric from AFSCME…
State workers and teachers have staged a week long, statewide series of rallies to voice their opposition to legislation that limits collective bargaining for state employees. Hundreds were in Springfield Thursday, where Jeff Bigelow, regional director of AFSCME Council 31, said bills in the Illinois legislature are starting to mirror what’s happening in neighboring states.
“These bills both for education employees and state employees are representative of exactly what’s happening in Wisconsin, exactly what’s happening in Ohio, exactly what’s happening in Indiana,” said Bigelow. “And we’re not going to put up with it.”
What are these bills he speaks of? One of them would be to stop the growth of union representation in state government, which is already at 95 percent representation. It would also eliminate some of the union membership rights of management types who’ve joined AFSCME and other unions.
While I can certainly understand why AFSCME and the impacted members are upset about this proposal, it’s hardly a full-on assault on orgainzed labor’s rights. Yes, it’s the camel’s nose under the tent, or foot in the door, or slippery slope. But taking high-up managers out of the union is hardly something that would rouse Mother Jones from her grave.
More from the story…
“I do not consider this to be even close to what’s happened in Wisconsin,” said Currie. “But I do think it’s important that state government needs to manage its workforce, and there are some work sites in the Department of Transportation where nobody’s in charge because everybody’s a part of the collective bargaining unit.”
But Bigelow says Currie’s bill would go even further. “They’re saying they want to take people out of collective bargaining who currently have it,” he said. “The state’s working now, and it’s working just fine. It’ll work just fine without any further modifications to the law.”
Um, dude, the state is not working “just fine.”
I was raised to believe that all workers are better off in a union and I still believe that and you can’t dissuade me of it, so don’t try. But I never thought I’d see the day when even legislative liaisons were singing “Solidarity Forever” while brandishing their union cards. It’s gotten out of hand. I get why managers and others want to join the union - they’ve been mistreated and not given raises. But shouldn’t there be limits?
* In other news, the Chicago News Cooperative’s subscriber-based publication has folded. From an e-mail…
Dear Reader,
Chicago’s election cycle has finished, so now Early And Often will wrap up. We will no longer update the content on our site, although the content of the site will continue to be available to subscribers. Today is also the last day that we’ll send out the Daily Palm Card.
Early And Often has been a joint effort between Aldertrack, Inc. and the Chicago News Cooperative. The Aldertrack team, Jimm Dispensa and I, had a tremendous time serving you and creating this new, unique news service for Chicago. We also enjoyed working closely with the Chicago News Cooperative and can say without reservation that CNC is one of the best teams of journalists Chicago has ever seen.
I’ll do my best to avoid over-heated rhetoric here, but I never thought their service would work because I never really understood their business model. The subscriptions were based on a single election cycle, not the actual doings of government. Government is how I survive. Campaigns most certainly help, but government is where the subscribers are. Plus, when Rahm Emanuel avoided a runoff, the campaign cycle was radically shortened and their business model was hurt even worse. Also, the Chicago media rarely covers legislative campaigns. They do cover city campaigns, however, including aldermanic races. There was simply no gigantic hole which needed to be filled.
Anyway, I was hoping it would work. Really, I was, mainly because I’ve long thought that a subscriber service was possible for Chicago. I still do. Just not the way they did it. But, nobody asked me.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Myth: HB14 locks in automatic rate increases without ICC review.
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Myth: HB14 guts the ICC’s oversight authority and the ability of groups representing consumers to challenge rates.
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Question of the day
Monday, Apr 11, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Weekly Standard’s Eli Lehrer penned an opinion piece last month entitled “Pensions aren’t the problem”…
Illinois’s story offers a lesson to other states looking to rein in employee compensation. Quite simply, pension benefits represent a reasonably small share of overall state spending (3.4 percent in Illinois), not all states have severe long-term funding problems, and state pensions are almost impossible to reform in ways that solve current budget problems. Moreover, there’s a commonsense case that reasonably generous public sector pensions are good public policy. Pensions, in short, aren’t the main cause of state budget problems, and many political leaders trying to bring public sector compensation down ought to focus their attention elsewhere.
What Lehrer fails to grasp is that while employer pension contributions are relatively low in Illinois as a percent of the budget, the unfunded liability and debt are what drive the real costs here. That unfunded liability was caused by two things: 1) The state didn’t make all its payments, and 2) Market forces.
* Anyway, House GOP Leader Tom Cross responded today…
Let’s look at the facts. Lehrer claims pension spending in Illinois represents only 3.45% of overall state spending. The facts are that for this year’s budget (FY12) the Illinois House of Representatives recently appropriated $4.2 billion to pay for the cost of pensions, which as a percentage of our General Revenue Funds budget ($33.1 billion) is approximately 13% This is our third largest expenditure, only surpassed by Elementary and Secondary Education and Health Care spending. Not a small sum, and without significant reform will almost double to $8 billion in ten years. […]
Along with the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago I am sponsoring Illinois House Bill 149, which allows current employees to keep all benefits earned prior to the date the reforms go into effect and going forward it would offer a menu of benefit changes to our current workforce. It will also provide for level-dollar funding over the next 35 years and reduce the unfunded liability to make our system more stable and financially manageable.
Lehrer then responded to Cross’s proposal, saying he’d vote for it if he was a member of the Illinois House…
But I do have one hang-up: it may violate the Illinois Constitution. Here’s Article XIII, Sec. 5: “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
I haven’t studied the case law behind this provision or examined Mr. Cross’ bill in depth but it seems like there would be a very credible court challenge to Mr. Cross’ legislation. In the end, Illinois may do the best by making up for its past underfunding of the pension system by sticking with the helpful changes it has already made, paying the promised benefits and finding cuts in places where they won’t face constitutional challenges.
We’ve seen this argument time and time again. Somebody proposes a pension reform, somebody else says it’s unconstitutional. Illinois’ Constitution can be changed, yet nobody seems to talk about that, not even those who are proposing big changes, including the Civic Committee and the Tribune editorial board.
I asked Leader Cross’ spokesperson if her boss would support a constitutional amendment deleting the pension protection language in the Constitution and was told: “It is Rep. Cross’ intent to let the pension reform working group move forward and offer its suggestions.” Apparently, this is just too hot a subject to touch. I can understand why, so with lots of trepidation…
* The Question: Should a state constitutional amendment be passed to delete the Constitution’s pension protection language? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
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* My syndicated newspaper column looks at tough budget times still ahead of us…
Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman seemed to be under the impression after his meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn last week that the state’s income tax hike actually would expire in four years.
“The tax increase is temporary,” Oberhelman told reporters, who wanted to know how he really felt about the recent tax hike. There’d been much media speculation that the Caterpillar CEO was so unhappy about the tax increase that he might move his company elsewhere.
Oberhelman added that revenue growth will be necessary to fill the state’s budget gap and “it’s going to take some spending cuts,” which, he said, he was confident Gov. Quinn could pull off.
After Oberhelman answered the question, Quinn told reporters that the “income tax is a four-year situation,” and said he wanted to “erase the deficit” during that time.
Technically and legally, the tax hike is temporary. Two income tax hikes have been allowed to expire in Illinois history, so it’s possible that this one will as well.
But the governor used phantom revenues in his most recent budget plan and proposed an increase in state spending, not a decrease.
The Senate Republicans have laid out the problem pretty clearly. And it’s quite grim.
They project the state deficit will be $22.7 billion in five years. I’ve had a problem with those numbers because of some of the assumptions they used. So, I asked them to help me game some additional projections, using what I considered to be more realistic assumptions, and they obliged.
First, toss out the governor’s $8.7 billion borrowing plan to pay past-due bills (which doesn’t look like it can pass this year). Then use House Speaker Michael Madigan’s (relatively low) revenue and spending projections for the coming fiscal year. Then grow state spending by 2 percent a year and project 2 percent annual revenue growth — and let’s see what happens.
What you’d wind up with is a $1.5 billion deficit during the last year that the tax hike is in effect.
But when that tax increase goes away, Illinois will be left with a $5.7 billion deficit. That’s about $1.3 billion higher than the deficit projected for the end of the state’s current fiscal year. Not good at all. Terrible, in fact.
OK, that didn’t work, so let’s try again. How about growing spending by just 1.5 percent a year? You’d wind up with a $524 million deficit during the last year of the allegedly temporary tax hike, but there’d be a $4 billion deficit the very next year, after the tax hike had expired.
Again, that’s about where we are right now. Any claims of budgetary restructuring would be shown to be laughably false.
Last try. Let’s plug in zero spending growth for four years. Illinois would have a $2.5 billion surplus the last year of the tax hike.
Hooray!
A year later, the surplus still would be $1.1 billion, but the state also would have a structural, operating deficit of $1.4 billion, and that deficit would continue to rise from then on out.
Bummer!
Also, zero spending growth may not sound all that difficult to do, until you realize that pension payments, Medicaid and state employee and retiree health care costs all are rising exponentially every year. All that spending would have to be somehow reined in, or other state programs — education, human service and pretty much everything else — would have to be viciously slashed year after year. In five years, things would be very bad indeed.
And considering the cold, hard fact that state legislators as a general rule hate to cut budgets, how can they be expected to keep a tight lid on everything year after year after year after year? They won’t do it. Simple as that.
The bottom line here is that if the governor is serious about putting Illinois on a solid financial footing, he needs to find a lot more revenue and/or make lots more cuts.
Caterpillar’s Oberhelman went out of his way to heap praise on the governor last week. And now Quinn needs to do whatever he can to keep his word.
He obviously doesn’t enjoy cutting the budget, but it has to be done if he hopes to wipe out that deficit by the end of his term.
* Related…
* Could Illinois’ Income Tax Hike Become Permanent?
* Editorial: Clip and save
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Heartburn and heart-warming
Monday, Apr 11, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke takes a look at a committee hearing that subscribers already know about. ComEd is trying to pass legislation to allow it to lock in rate increases to pay for a massive power delivery system upgrade. Finke has a good take on the hearing…
The House Public Utilities Committee held a hearing on the bill last week. The plan was to focus on the economic benefits of the bill, spending on equipment upgrades and the workers needed to install it. For two hours, witness after witness testified about how his or her company would benefit if lawmakers approved the ComEd bill. More money and more workers for companies that do utility construction work.
For virtually that entire time, there was silence from the committee. No skepticism about the jobs and other claims. No nothing.
Then Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s public interest lawyers testified, explaining why they think state lawmakers should move cautiously and not rush into the deal. Suddenly, two committee members — Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland — piped up. They began peppering Madigan’s people with questions about why the state should wait and the dangers to the state’s economy if the ComEd bill isn’t passed.
You know, it’s always nice to see people willing to stick up for the big guy.
It’s ComEd’s world. We just live in it.
* Last year on the campaign trail, political newcomer Michelle Mussman described herself as just a “mom on a mission” looking to do good in the Illinois House. But the freshman Democrat appeared to run away from her rhetoric when she ran a bill last week which would cut legislative pay by ten percent…
On her campaign website, Mussman says “politicians” are the reason the public doesn’t trust government. “Self-serving politicians have repeatedly abused our trust and misused our tax dollars,” Mussman notes. “Many of us have lost faith in our government and feel that elected officials no longer work for us.”
But, now that she’s one of the politicians, Mussman changed her tune during the debate on the floor. Instead of blaming politicians, she went after another favorite target.
“I don’t think that we get credit for the work that we do,” she told Davis. “The media has painted us in a very bleak picture.”
Clearly, Mussman is a quick learner. Let’s review:
Before you become a politician, other politicians are bad.
After you become a politician, it’s the media’s fault.
* But not everything is so overtly cynical at the Statehouse. Members do try to do some good. For instance, I talked about Rep. Greg Harris’ bill last night on WGN Radio. Harris was outraged at the murder of Paul McCann allegedly by a staffer at a Downstate group home for the developmentally disabled…
In testimony before a House panel Thursday, state Rep. Greg Harris outlined a proposal he said would ensure group home residents are better protected.
“They deserve more from us as a state,” Harris said. “I think we as a state failed them.”
The proposal stems from the January death of Paul McCann from injuries he allegedly received at the hands of two workers at a Graywood Foundation group home in Charleston.
Records show the state had evidence of abuse at Graywood facilities for two years, including a death from an attack in 2008.
Dot points…
1. Require the Department of Human Services to initiate reviews, and possible revocation, of funding and licensing at institutions where disproportionate claims of abuse or neglect occur.
2. Require assignment of independent monitors or receivers to operate facilities and protect residents where systemic risks of abuse are identified.
3. Require background checks of group home workers when first hired, and every six months.
4. Require families to be able to review documented cases of abuse or neglect, get access to all licensing, inspection and quality assurance documentation, as well as reports of substantiated findings of abuse neglect or exploitation.
5. Give families and residents instructions on how to report abuse.
6. Give residents the patient’s bill of rights.
Harris’ bill is on 3rd Reading in the House. Keep your fingers crossed.
* Heck, even Scott Lee Cohen is keeping promises these days…
As candidate for governor, Scott Lee Cohen promised to hold job fairs to help bring down the state’s unemployment rate.
He made good on that promise Saturday.
“I made a promise to the people of Illinois, whether they elected me or not,” he said at Seward Park on the city’s near north side where hundreds of people gathered to meet with recruiters and drop off resumes.
There were small boutiques and large firms like Wal-mart among the recruiters.
One wonders, however, whether Cohen is now gearing up for a run for the state Senate. He said he might when he wasn’t picked to replace Sen. Rickey Hendon.
* But if you want a truly uplifting moment for your day, then make extra sure to read this Sun-Times story about how a former trouble-making kid turned his life around when a teacher turned him on to politics. Apparently, Rahm Emanuel can actually be a pretty good guy.
* Related…
* Cicero officials linked to criminals: Jeff Pesek, 38, president of the Morton High School District 201 board, which oversees several thousand students from Cicero, Berwyn and other suburbs, has been partners in business with admitted wholesale cocaine dealer Enrique “Henry” Rendon, according to court testimony and documents.
* Former public housing tenants honored
* Quinn Honors POWs
* Debra Silverstein ready to answer 50th Ward’s call
* How Cullerton held his seat in 38th while Rice went down in 36th
* Gay candidates win in Evanston, Springfield
* Thousands of pro-union supporters rally downtown for Wis. workers
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* Senate President John Cullerton all but pledged the other day to allow the concealed carry bill to the floor if it passes the House…
If concealed carry legislation passes the Illinois House, it may not be dead on arrival in the Illinois Senate.
The measure is expected to come up for a full vote in the House this month. Proponents believe they have more support than ever in that chamber.
Concealed carry has traditionally fared better in the House than the Senate, where Senate President John Cullerton, (D)-Chicago, has assigned bills to the Public Health Committee. The committee, which is heavy with Chicago Democrats, has killed the measures in the past.
Tuesday in Carbondale, Cullerton indicated that even though he is opposed to “people having loaded weapons on them,” he would consider assigning the bill to another committee.
Noting that concealed carry has not fared well in the Public Health committee, Cullerton said, “If it does pass the House, if we have enough folks that want to have a vote on the Senate floor we can have that vote.”
* Meanwhile, gun owner names would stay private under a bill that passed the House on Friday…
The proposal would exempt the names of 1.3 million holders of Firearm Owner Identification cards from the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The measure, House Bill 3500, must still pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Pat Quinn to be enacted into law. […]
The controversy began when the Associated Press filed a FOIA request for the names of all FOID card-holders. Attorney General Lisa Madigan ruled last month that the names must be made public under the act.
The AP put out a statement saying it routinely requests government documents under FOIA for stories, but did not specify what the information would have been used for.
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Maps of the day
Monday, Apr 11, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Data Pointed via Sully we have population change in visual format…
(C)olor-coded by the change in population density from 2000 to 2010. In urban areas, deep blue indicates that the population doubled (or more), pure red means that everyone left, grey denotes no change, and the intermediate tones represent the spectrum of increases and decreases in-between. Below 5000 residents per square mile, these colors fade with the square root of density towards white, where no people lived in either year. We created these maps from the official U.S. Census 2000 and 2010 block-level population data and boundaries using custom-built cartographic software.
Here’s Chicago metro. Click the pic for a larger image…
Full USA…
* Speaking of population shifts…
The trend of immigrants heading directly to American suburbs instead of starting in a major city intensified from 2000 to 2010 – and was one factor in Illinois’ 32.5 percent increase in Hispanic population in that period, according to recently released U.S. Census data. […]
The surge in Illinois’ Hispanic population, from 1.53 million in 2000 to 2.03 million last year, helped sustain the state’s 3.3 percent population growth, U.S. Census data show.
Most of that was in the counties surrounding Chicago’s Cook County. The Hispanic population grew 65 percent in Kane County to the west, more than doubled in Will County to the southwest and more than quadrupled in Kendall, which includes parts of Aurora.
Over the same decade, Chicago and Cook County lost population, and Chicago added only 25,000 more Hispanic residents. [Emphasis added]
* Related…
* Few downstate issues surface at redistricting hearing: “We’re quite sure the population growth in the Chicago suburbs will result in a concentration of districts there, meaning other districts will change in areas with lower population growth,” said Kevin Semlow, Illinois Farm Bureau director of state legislation.
* Chicago Should Ask For A Census Recount
* Senate Redistricting Committee hears testimony: Redistricting Chairman Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) noted that map-drawing public work stations will soon be made available in both Springfield and Chicago.
* Public to have voice in Illinois redistricting process
* Editorial: Remap process lacking a key step
* Caution needed before we overreach with a 14-4 map
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*** UPDATED x1 *** The rest of the story
Friday, Apr 8, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fran Eaton’s latest column talks about a bill introduced by Rep. Darlene Senger which would’ve required much stricter standards at abortion clinics…
State Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville) found Illinois’ law to be inadequate concerning standards for abortion clinics. Senger’s concern about women’s safety caused her to introduce a bill that would have raised those standards.
Senger said this week she’s giving up on the bill, however, HB 3156 would have required a facility performing more than 50 abortions a year to install a statutory number of scrub stations and halls and doors wide enough for patient ambulance gurneys in case of emergencies. It also would have required that ceilings be washable in the procedure and recovery rooms and proper ventilation be available and working.
“Surgical outpatient centers are built for surgery, and that means if something goes wrong, they’re equipped to deal with it,” she said.
Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want basic, fundamental health care facility requirements for abortion clinics?
Except she left something out of her column about why Rep. Senger withdrew the bill. Eaton did include some of that reasoning in a post at Illinois Review…
Democrat State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (a beneficiary of Personal PAC money) filed a hostile amendment that she knew would kill Senger’s requirement as soon as she added it to the bill. Nekritz muddied the issue of women’s health by expanding the scope of the regulations in order to bring into the debate the powerful Illinois Medical Society lobby, which has often been a partner with the pro-abortion industry in Illinois; and a major contributor to many state legislators.
So, thanks to Rep. Nekritz’ efforts the legislation has been stopped.
But she still didn’t explain what actually happened. As I’ve already told subscribers, Nekritz’s hostile amendment would require all clinics to abide by the higher standards that Senger wanted to impose only on abortion clinics. Rep. Nekrtiz’s rationale was if they want to increase standards for abortion clinics, why shouldn’t all clinics fall under the stricter regulations?
And that was what brought the Illinois State Medical Society into the debate. Senger withdrew from the fight because she knew she couldn’t beat the docs.
* From Greg Hinz…
A dispute over who ought to distribute beer and perhaps other drinks in Illinois is building a big froth in Springfield, with Anheuser-Busch Cos., the company that just bought Chicago’s Goose Island brewery, hiring some very heavy lobbying talent.
In the past couple of days, Anheuser-Busch has retained recently retired state Rep. James DeLeo, a close ally of state Senate President John Cullerton; and Tom Taylor, the lobbying partner of former Senate GOP staff chief Carter Hendren.
A little earlier in the session, Anheuser-Busch hired Michael Thomson and Michael McClain, both of whom previously served as top aides to House Speaker Mike Madigan, as well as former state Liquor Control Commission chief William O’Donaghue.
Springfield insiders say that Anheuser-Busch — whose lobbyists failed to return phone calls — clearly wants to cut out the middle man in Illinois’ odd liquor distribution system, in which companies that sell the product must use a wholesaler to get it to their customers.
The reason for all this is that a federal judge ruled that the state cannot allow Illinois craft brewers to self distribute their product and at the same time not allow anybody else to do so.
The General Assembly is now attempting to work out a compromise (allowing out of state craft brewers into the game and setting limits on how much they can distribute) while attempting to maintain the traditional “three-tiered” system of brewers, distributors and servers. But that ain’t easy because the microbrewers want in on the action and the big brewers are always hovering above while the distributors are attempting to protect their turf.
The judge said he’d wait to see what the Legislature does before issuing a final ruling. There’s probably no way that the Legislature will allow Anheuser-Bush into the distributing business (the beer distributors are major heavy hitters), so I’m told the brew magnate likely wants to kill off any attempt at finding a Statehouse resolution. Gridlock would send the matter back to the court, which could then result in a very big win for A-B. They already own 30 percent of a distributor here, and they want to buy the whole thing.
* John Bambenek has an e-mail that was sent out by the Illinois Department of Public Health last week which claims that Bank of America is canceling credit cards used by state employees…
Folks:
Not to send panic, but just a heads up to each of you as to what’s happening.
Bank of America is cancelling the contract with the State of Illinois effective April 22, 2011. They will not do another contract extension for the State of Illinos. So what does that mean? On April 23, 2011 at 12:01 a.m., the cards currently held by IDPH employees will no longer be valid. The State has been trying to finda new vendor, encourage BoA to give us a few more months, but as of this writing has been unsuccessful on all fronts. So what does this mean to our travelers? Most establishments will not direct bill especially conferences, (prior approval needed by travel office for this process) so persons required to travel will have to put charges on their personal charge cards or set aside personal funds on prepaid travel card, or pay cash out of pocket. For those who are non-GRF [General Revenue Fund] this should be not big deal, but to those traveling on GRF, this could have an impact.
One additional details are received. I will share that information with you so that you can share with our travelers.
Unti then . . . this is just a heads up!!!!
I’m checking on this one.
*** UPDATE *** From the administration…
The statewide contract with Bank of America for state employee travel credit cards has not been canceled, but is expiring April 21, 2011.
Official notice is here.
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Caption Contest!
Friday, Apr 8, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The annual fundraiser for the Illinois Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus was the other night. I couldn’t make it, but here’s a photo of Sen. John Sullivan auctioning while Rep. Jim Sacia works the crowd. Both are professional auctioneers…
* And the bonus caption if you’re in the mood…
That’s Rep. Dan Reitz holding the gun.
* The winner of our last caption contest of Sen. Bill Brady speaking at a panel discussion with the Illinois Partners for Human Services was Wordslinger…
Under the watchful eye of legendary JC Penney fashion designer Alotta Oreos, aspiring model Bill “Zoolander” Brady strikes “the look” in his audition for the Spring catalog.
Wordslinger wins a free “premium” beverage at the upcoming House vs. Senate softball game, of which I am a proud co-sponsor. The winner(s) of this contest will be awarded the same prize.
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Question of the day
Friday, Apr 8, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Sun-Times column…
There seems to be a deliberate misunderstanding by some state Senate Republicans these days.
They’re claiming that Gov. Pat Quinn’s nomination of Terry Cosgrove to the Illinois Human Rights Commission is a disgusting example of “pay to play” politics.
But that’s just silly.
Pay to play means I give you something so that you’ll give me something.
For instance, Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanted to engage in some pay to play when he sought out campaign contributions, a job for himself or his wife and other nefarious things in exchange for appointing somebody to the U.S. Senate.
Now, that’s pay to play. All the way.
State contractors were banned from contributing to gubernatorial candidates because their businesses and, therefore, their personal bank accounts, could directly benefit by the outcomes of those races. State employees are barred from donating to the governor for the very same reason.
But governors in every state have a long history of appointing political supporters to state boards and commissions.
And this appointment is no different.
Cosgrove runs Personal PAC, a pro-choice group that raises and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every campaign season. Cosgrove also has a long history of working for gay rights. He helped pass a human rights ordinance in Champaign and Urbana decades ago.
Last year, Cosgrove cranked up his fund-raising machine for Quinn.
State Sen. Bill Brady, Quinn’s Republican opponent, was (and remains) 100 percent pro-life. Brady is for no exceptions for rape or incest.
Cosgrove jumped in with both feet, spending more than $400,000 to beat Brady, whom he saw as the greatest threat to his pro-choice cause in many a year.
Brady led in almost all the polls right up to the end and then just barely lost to Quinn on Election Day.
One of Brady’s top campaign staffers told me after the election that Cosgrove’s direct mail and cable TV ads in the northern suburbs were what tipped the balance to Quinn.
So, as you might expect, the Republicans are not at all pleased with Cosgrove’s nomination.
And because they can’t just come right out and say that their avowed political enemy shouldn’t be appointed to a state commission, they’ve taken to calling the move “play to play.”
Ridiculous.
This is pure politics attempting to hide behind corruption allegations.
It’s merely an attempt at political payback for the crushing defeat of one of their colleagues last year. No more, no less.
To consider this a corrupt act, you’d have to believe that Cosgrove supported Quinn simply because he wanted to snag a plum job.
Anybody who knows Cosgrove realizes this is crazy bunk.
He went after Brady because Brady presented himself as a gigantic, scary target. Personal PAC’s whole reason for existence is to keep people like Brady out of office.
Now, if you want to say that no campaign supporter should ever be appointed to a state job, well, maybe we can talk.
I think the idea would be way overboard, but, OK, let’s kick it around.
Extending that logic too far out would mean, however, that the Senate Republicans couldn’t put people on their state staff who worked campaigns last year — which would be most of them.
You could argue that Cosgrove doesn’t have the “neutral” temperament required to serve on the Human Rights Commission. I might not disagree with you there. He has never been a neutral sort of guy. But to claim that this appointment, which was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, is somehow corrupt is little more than political posturing. I really hope the media doesn’t fall for this game.
* The Question: Should anyone who contributed campaign money or services, or worked for a campaign be barred from holding a state job if their candidate wins? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* Related…
* Prolife group says Cosgrove appointment “pay-to-play politics at its worst”
* Lawmakers separated after hot argument
* Controversial Quinn pick to human rights panel gets grilled, gets job
* Audio: Cosgrove appointment hearing
* Illinois Governor Criticized for Pro-Abortion Appointment
* Head of abortion rights group that donated to Quinn wins spot on state board
* State Senate OKs Quinn’s appointment of campaign donor
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The good, the bad and the ugly
Friday, Apr 8, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The good…
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said Thursday he has cut his office’s vehicle fleet in half and reduced mobile phone use. […]
The treasurer’s office had 12 cars, which has been reduced to six. The vehicles will be returned to the Department of Central Management Services. Rutherford said he hopes they will be used by other agencies.
* More good…
Two Southern Illinoisans were honored recently by Gov. Pat Quinn with a 2011 Governor’s Volunteer Service Award.
The awards were presented to 25 Illinoisans in five regions for volunteers who make a difference in their community.
Amy Simpson of Carterville was honored for her service to Gum Drops and Jean Domingez of Mount Vernon was honored for service to One Hope United Foster Grandparent Program.
* The bad…
Jamie Dimon made nearly $21 million last year in cash and stock awards as CEO of J. P. Morgan Chase & Co., but the giant bank still covered $421,458 in real estate commissions and related costs in selling his Gold Coast mansion. […]
Mr. Dimon, 55, moved from New York to Chicago in 1999 to become CEO of Bank One Corp., then Chicago’s biggest bank. Five years later, he engineered Bank One’s $58-billion sale to New York-based J. P. Morgan, a deal that positioned him to become CEO of the combined bank and enabled him to move home to New York.
He kept the Chicago home for several more years to allow his children to finish high school in Chicago. Mr. Dimon sold the mansion last year to billionaire energy-industry magnate Michael Polsky for $6.8 million after Mr. Dimon slashed the original asking price of $13.5 million a few times before reaching agreement.
Mr. Dimon paid $4.7 million for the home in 2000, property records show.
* The ugly…
The agency that oversees the College Illinois prepaid tuition program didn’t follow sound business practices — or state law — when it hired San Francisco-based Grigsby & Associates for investment advice, according to a state audit released Thursday.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission hired the firm to advise College Illinois on debt restructuring, but it gave only one opinion to ISAC: to invest $12.8 million in ShoreBank Corp. The investment was lost last year when ShoreBank collapsed.
* And other stuff…
* Former Illinois Gov. Edgar commends state on tax hike: Jim Edgar, a Republican, commended lawmakers today for making the “tough” decision to hike the state’s tax rate — a measure supported by none of his fellow Republicans in the state legislature — and called for more compromise in Springfield.
* Anti-Strike Language A Key Pivot Point In Education Bill
* Dowell’s Vacant Building Bill In Springfield’s Hands
* Press Release: Illinois’ financial house a mess; so is system used to track finances
* Quinn Confident Federal Shutdown Will Be Averted
* How the federal government shutdown would affect Chicago
* Lincoln Home will be among first victims of government shutdown
* House might ditch current workers’ comp system
* State official playing tourist with a purpose
* As federal shutdown looms, region would quickly feel the pain
* Illinois Government Workers; We’re not Wisconsin!
* School districts without unions rare in Illinois, but not unheard of - Teachers go it alone in 16 districts, including 2 in Chicago suburbs,
* Dunk champ hears governor’s dunking tale
* Rahm Emauel to help Carol Moseley Braun retire her campaign debt
* Mayor Richard Daley kicks off farewell tour
* Bean’s decision not to run could affect redistricting
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* The Illinois Supreme court stepped in and declared yesterday that out-of-staters do not need a FOID card if they travel in Illinois with their guns. The non-residents couldn’t get a FOID card anyway, since only Illinois residents qualify. They still need to make sure their guns are permitted in their home states, however…
The case stems from an incident in 2005 when a Indiana man was arrested for a having a gun in a closed backseat armrest in his car.
He was charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon because he didn’t have a FOID card and he didn’t have the gun in a case.
The court ruled that since he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Indiana he didn’t need a FOID card as well.
More…
“As the majority points out, if we were to strictly apply the FOID card requirement … nonresidents whose weapons are unloaded and enclosed in a case but who do not have an Illinois FOID card would be guilty of a felony,” Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman wrote.
For the southern Illinois city of Sparta, the ruling was a matter of economic survival. Sparta is home to the $50 million World Shooting & Recreational Complex. Chris Hespen works for the complex and said it hosted about 300 shooting events during 2010.
During its biggest event, the Armature Trapshooting Association’s Grand American, the complex saw sport shooters from across the nation and from 17 countries, according to Hespen. He said Thursday’s ruling diverted an economic disaster.
“It would have been detrimental and crippling,” Hespen said. “This facility here, yeah we offer day use and walk-in outdoor sportsmen an opportunity to recreationally shoot, but this facility is written and built for tournaments and competitive shooting events.”
* Earlier this week, the House voted down a bill that some saw as sort of a test vote for concealed carry…
House lawmakers [Wednesday] defeated a measure that would have taken away Chicago’s ability to regulate how people store guns, a prelude to an expected spring showdown over a push to allow people to carry concealed weapons.
The debate put on display the Capitol’s traditional regional fight over gun rights and gun control, with conservative suburbanites and downstate lawmakers wanting to expand rights and Chicago-area Democrats wanting to restrict access to weapons. […]
The state legislation, sponsored by freshman Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville, have specifically given the state exclusive power to regulate firearms and disallow Chicago and other larger cities with home-rule power from establishing their own restrictions. Rosenthal maintained there should be a “consistent standard” statewide. […]
The House vote was 61-48, which is normally enough to pass a bill. But the gun measure needed 71 votes because it would have superseded the authority of home-rule powers of Chicago and other large communities in Illinois.
Todd Vandermyde with the NRA explained to me that they were missing 5 votes Wednesday and said the two issues were different with “different players.” One might assume that they didn’t press members as hard, either, because they want that concealed carry bill to pass. Even so, that’s not a great roll call, even if you add in those missing five members.
* Campers, you know I love you all dearly, each and every one of you. But these gun-related comment threads are driving me a little batty. Please, try your very best not to use stale, ready-made talking points. Be original. And be kind to each other. Also, it’s Friday. Let’s have a little peace. Thanks.
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Media hilarity
Friday, Apr 8, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This story about Gov. Pat Quinn’s capital plan announcement yesterday is so ludicrous that it’s downright hilarious…
The governor said “politics have been removed” from the funding of state road projects. In this Intelligence Report: There are some well-connected winners in Gov. Quinn’s road funding plan.
Ooooo. Intrigue. Tell me more. Who are these dastardly “well-connected” types who won big road projects?
I swear, you’re gonna laugh…
Their list reveals the top-funded districts are represented by legislators who serve on government transportation committees: The 49th State Senate District in Carlinville slated to receive $459 million, the most of any Senate district in the state. The senator from there, Sam McCann, is a member of the transportation committee that helps set transportation policy and determine funding.
OK, first of all, the Senate Transportation Committee does not “determine funding.” That’s done by the two appropriations committees, and Sen. McCann is not on either one of them. Transportation is about policy, not money. There is some overlap, but the cash is doled out by the approp committees. So, that claim is bogus. Also, McCann is a freshman Republican, and a Tier One target at that. If he really was “well connected,” he’d be a Democrat or at least a Republican whom Democrats like. He’s neither. They want him gone and don’t particularly care for him, either. And since he’s a freshman, he has no connections. This is Deanna Demuzio’s old Senate district, half of which was represented by Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig when he was in the House. If anything, there’s your explanation.
Next up…
Next is the 111th State House District in Alton, set to receive $261 million, among the five richest road project districts statewide. The state rep there, Daniel Beiser, chairman of the house transportation committee that oversees roads and bridges
Once again, the House Transportation Committee is about policy, not cash. Beiser does sit on one approp committee, but it’s for higher education.
And then…
Finally, the 37th State Senate District, Peoria, is authorized for 117 highway projects, the highest number in the state. The new senator for that district is the son of Ray LaHood, secretary of the US transportation department, an Obama appointee and a former Illinois congressman.
Senator Darin LaHood says: “I literally just got sworn in four weeks ago.” He wasn’t familiar with what happened in the roll out Thursday and doesn’t think father’s position with feds has anything to do with Quinn road funding.
LaHood is on Transportation, but not on an approp. Also, most of these projects have been in the works for years. LaHood has been in the Senate for like ten minutes.
* Meanwhile, I checked out Drudge this morning and saw this headline…
Oh, for Pete’s sake. Emanuel is a Cub fan. All Cub fans are heckled at Sox Park. Heck, even Sox fan politicians are heckled at Sox Park. The same goes for Cub Field. It’s a Chicago tradition, and it isn’t just confined to sporting events. Years ago, I took my brother to the Blues Festival and Harold Washington was loudly booed for what seemed like a few minutes. My brother, who lives in California, couldn’t believe it. I just laughed, as did everyone else around me.
* Anyway, the Drudge headline links to this…
It might be a bit premature to say the honeymoon is over, but the past 24 hours haven’t been great for Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel.
First he was spurned by the candidate he thought he had locked in as Chicago’s next police superintendent. Then he found out Thursday that not even wearing a White Sox jacket next to Mayor Richard M. Daley is enough to protect a Cubs fan from jeers at U.S. Cellular Field.
Rahm deserved the heckling. Don’t wear a Sox jacket if you’re a Cub fan. Bad idea. But he’d still be heckled even if he wasn’t wearing that jacket.
The only politician I’ve never seen heckled at Sox Park is Jesse White. People love the guy, even though he’s a former Cub player.
* This may or may not be an overreach. I’m just not sure that this is going to be a repeat of 2004 because AFSCME has yet to weigh in…
A plan to force thousands of state employees and retirees to switch health insurance providers is proving just as controversial as it was when a similar proposal was floated in 2004.
A day after the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services announced it will eliminate Health Alliance and Humana as part of the state’s group health insurance program, state workers, some lawmakers and officials at Health Alliance were raising questions about the move.
Health Alliance, which covers nearly 100,000 government and university workers, retirees and their dependents, said Thursday it would protest the bidding process.
“Health Alliance was surprised by the news that the state of Illinois has chosen to force employees and their families to choose between finding a new doctor or paying extraordinarily high rates,” the company said in a statement. “We are very concerned about the lack of choices available to state employees who prefer HMO coverage but cannot afford the state’s new scheme.”
If AFSCME goes all-out against this proposal, then Gov. Quinn will have himself a real problem. We may know more Monday, when an AFSCME official will testify at the Statehouse.
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